The sun sets over a rebel-held area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa

Mohamad ABAZEED, AFP

"It's not fear, it's readiness," says Musalima.

"We're setting up lines of defence and attack, and upping our coordination with the Quneitra rebels to the west, all the way to the border with Suweida to the east."

Quneitra is the province directly to Daraa's west, and Suweida neighbours it to the east.

Sections of the three provinces make up a "de-escalation zone" agreed in May 2017 by rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran.

The US and Jordan have also backed the zone, announcing alongside Russia in July that a cessation of hostilities would begin in the southern sliver.

Despite the steadily increasing violence, Musalima says the south's rebel factions had been "advised" by their foreign backers not to provoke the regime or its loyalist militias, and to preserve the de-escalation zone.